I found myself nodding away in agreement as it's pottering in a nutshell but so is the point that not all elements are of equal importance and the emphasis on each will vary person to person and task to task. Yes, you may be pottering doing household tasks but you're deriving some pleasure/satisfaction from it. While many books offer trendy cures to the bustle and stress of modern life that involve going to far-off places or making drastic life shifts, this book’s approach is, with intention, much closer to home. Pottering—“to occupy oneself in a pleasant way but without a definite plan or purpose”—is akin to fixing a squeaky hinge or making a cup of tea, and McGovern explores the freedom and comfort inherent in such basic human tendencies, though they’ve been crowded out of contemporary definitions of success and happiness. The key principles of pottering include making “do with what you’ve got,” not trying too hard, movement, staying local, and keeping it digital-free. Such techniques foster contentment and effortless living, focused on single tasks that embrace experimentation over excellence and are often, but not always, solitary pursuits. One chapter includes seasonal ideas to prime one’s mind for living at a slower pace year round, including spring cleaning, making popsicles in the summer, planting bulbs in the fall, and snuggling in the winter.

This is a sweet little read that continues with the modern trend of self-help books designed to tell us to slow down and stop doing so much, and to have fun doing it. It has a decidedly old fashioned British tone and is very sweet and encouraging. It was not really anything new to me, as it turns out I am already a master at pottering. I really don't need to read very descriptive instructions on how to do things like oil a hinge (and make it somewhat enjoyable in a calming and happy sort of way), but if I had to then this would be a wonderful guide. It reminds me a lot of a charming children's book in the tone, and could be a great fit for busy folks who want to learn how to slow down and enjoy the little moments. You get to go with the flow. Let’s say you’re putting away an item and you stumble across something else that needs attending to (e.g. a drawer that need rearranging), you can change course. Remember, you don’t have to be efficient or productive when you potter. Pottering is exactly what you would expect from a book of that title. It is gentle and refreshing, lovely to look at it with its simple and expressive illustrations and unhurried. It is an antidote to the rush and expectation of modern life where there is simply too much all the time, a bombardment of stimuli most of which are too distant to be acted upon and merely create frustration and anxiety. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of self improvement. I’m all for doing things more effectively. But sometimes you need a little time out. Consider the words that define pottering ‘without definite plan or purpose’. Let those words really sink in . . . You have the freedom to make tea any way you like. You be you. No one is going to judge. It’s just you and the tea.”Pottering is a book that really examines what it means to potter and the benefits of pottering. It also encourages you to potter in ways you might not have thought of before. It's a kind of celebration of resourcefulness and the stepping away from perfectionism.

The consequence of pottering – a feeling of relaxation and contentment- is usually achieved when you make do with what you’ve got, get moving but don’t go too far, don’t try too hard and keep it digital free.” ignoring digital devices and limiting your access to them also means that you are not constantly bombarded with messages, information, unrealistic images of perfection and pictures of social occasions that you haven’t been invited to.” Only when you are able to gain satisfaction from the humblest of tasks, short in duration and seemingly inconsequential, will you have become a true potterer.Just pottering… a phrase that’s a catch-all term for this and that — a weed pulled up, a wayward shoot snipped off, all of which tasks combine to make a garden that looks loved and cared for. What I love about pottering is you get to set the bar extremely low. In fact, you don’t have to accomplish much at all. The Fundamental Principles of Pottering

That rest involved downing her digital devices, staying local and filling her Tuesdays with easy-to-achieve tasks. A couple of months into her new routine, McGovern realised that what she was doing could only be described as pottering. For her the restorative powers of regular pottering were such that she decided to interrogate the activity further. Written pre-pandemic, her book is an eerily prescient guide to the mercurial activity of – well, what, exactly? It’s a chance to have a moment free from the tyranny of pressure Then the chapters are full of musing and specific suggestions for how to go about pottering when following that particular guideline. For example, under "don't try too hard," we are invited to do tasks that are "quite satisfying and useful only but the tiniest margin," like sweeping with a broom, cleaning out old bags/purses, sorting junk drawers, leaving something to soak, sewing on a single button, cutting scrap paper out of old envelopes, organizing key dishes. There are, according to McGovern, five fundamentals of pottering. First, pottering is about “making the best of your circumstances and the resources you have to hand”. Improvisation and compromise are key here. In fact, there is an element of make do and mend. Recommended if you want a fast, light read to shake you out of a rut - but don't read it too fast or you’ll miss the message.If pottering were to belong to the positive psychology family, it would be a kind and benign aunt. It doesn't take much to impress her: she is gentle, she smiles a lot and she says, 'Don't be so hard on yourself. You should be really proud, the way you handled that.' This is the book for people who want to discover productivity at an easier pace, and above all the contentment you achieve when accepting that you can only do what you can do. We know our children are over-scheduled and overly attached to their electronic devices. We know they need unstructured time to be ‘bored’ so that the creative juices can flow. But what about us, as adults?